Friday, March 6, 2015

Nimrud the ancient Assyrian city is destroyed

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The ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud in Iraq has been bulldozed by the Islamic state group, being this the jihadist's latest attack on the country's historical heritage. An Iraqi antiquities official confirmed the news, destruction began after noon prayers on Thursday March 5, 2015, bulldozers and trucks used to haul away artefacts had been spotted at the site.

Nimrud was founded in the 13th century BC and lies on the Tigris River 18 miles southeast of Mosul, IS group's main hub in the country. Four centuries later it became capital of the neo-Assyrian empire, the most powerful state on earth, extending to modern day Egypt, Turkey and Iran.

Nimrud before destruction

Abdulamir Hamdani, Iraqi archaeologist from Stony Brook University said "I'm sorry to say everybody was expecting this. Their plan is to destroy Iraqi heritage, one site at a time". "Hatra of course will be next," he said, referring to the preserved city in Nineveh, that's more than 2,000 years old, this will be another devastating news to the historical heritage and the archeological community.

All this destruction in Nimrud came a week after the group released a video showing armed militants smashing priceless ancient artifacts at the Mosul museum.

Mosul Museum destroyed

In the jihadists' extreme interpretation of Islam, statues, idols and shrines worshiping other God must be all destroyed, one by one. All of those important historical heritages from thousands of years ago are going down by this group. The sad part is that right now there's not much to do to stop the war. At least many monuments were removed by archaeologist including colossal winged bulls to British Museum in London.

UNESCO condemned Islamic State's actions as "cultural cleansing" and a war crime. The government in Baghdad said the fighters were defying "the will of the world and the feelings of humanity." sadly without no one to stop them at the moment.

At the moment archaeologists can't quantify the damage; although some items appeared to be replicas, many priceless articles had been destroyed.

Jihadists using a jackhammer to destroy heritage

Iraqi security forces and allied fighters are battling to regain ground from the jihadists with back up from an international coalition and Iran.

But sadly major operations to drive IS out of Nineveh are months away, leaving the province's irreplaceable historical sites at the mercy of militants and their nonsense thinking and plans.